The day of sweet satisfaction that means that the hours that you have put in, driving to school in the dark, marking books until you yourself can no longer spell, and wiping perfect circles of snot off of your leg, have come to present you with the perfect gift! Money!
Now, most teachers I know are of the mind that they would teach for free. I know that if there was a Sugar-Daddy (Sugar-Teacher-Daddy?) who only wanted the youth of today to learn, and in exchange he would pay all of my bills, and that car insurance, and everything else that comes with having a real life job, I would probably jump at it. Exchange for teaching children being the operative phrase here. However, being that there is no one kind enough to do so, here we are. My bank account is shining with green, and all is good with the world.
Off I trot to do my usual weekend shopping, and lo and behold, Heaven on Earth!
Now, don't get me wrong. In my two years of working as a 'real' teacher (no more weekly meetings about coursework), I have been fortunate enough to work at schools with fairly good resources. There were cupboards with pens, boxes of new glue sticks (For Key Stage 2 ONLY!!!), and generally a good selection of backing paper and boarders. Reading some blogs by fellow teachers in the US, my heart breaks a little about how much they have to spend on decorating their classrooms using their own money. So why is it that when you teach, you have a tendency to spend so much money on 'teaching resources'? (Code: utter crap which will last 2 weeks in the classroom - gluesticks, I'm looking at you!).
It is a huge problem for me to go into a shop and not stop on the stationary aisle. I am yet to encounter one teacher who can breeze through without slipping a few gluesticks or stickers into their basket. Wow! I think, eyeing up the multipacks of colouring pencils, these would be great on my desk as 'emergency' pencils. Or 'special' pencils. Or 'reward' pencils... No! Stop yourself!
Look, we all love new stationary. We all love that sometimes you need to buy gluesticks and new pens, and there is such a great new smell, and all is wonderful.. But you work hard for your money. You work bloody hard! I know colleagues who have sat and cried at their desks, and then have sent themselves home to work and cry some more. But listen - it is YOUR money! Schools have these amazing things called 'budgets'. I know, I know! Pah, I hear you exclaim, There is no money in the budget for stationary! The Head gives out one gluestick a term per class and that is the way it is!
I hear you. Except, remember, your school has a responsibility to cater for all children and their education. If they cannot provide adequate resources then they are not allocating the funds properly. You need to have a discussion with someone on the SLT and tell them that you don't have enough resources, or you need something. Let's be honest, a couple of glue sticks is going to make more of a dent in your pocket than in your (considerably larger) school's pocket. Be honest, explain what you need, and why, and smile lots. This overstretched smile/laugh combo (think going for an interview enthusiasm) has an average success of 8/10.
You work hard and you give so much of yourself to the children every day. It is tempting to buy them whatever you see on offer, but think about it. I wasted a whole lot of money in my first year of teaching buying 'essentials', when really, I found most of what I needed in school (albeit hidden in someone else's stock cupboard).
And for when you have hit one of those failings requesting resources, skip off to the Receptionist's office. Make friends there and you'll have whiteboard pens for life!
I once heard that buying new stationary gives people the feeling of being productive. Do you think this is the same for teachers? You made me laugh btw! :-)
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